WRONG LIST, UNLESS VW MAKES GATEWAY COMPUTERS FOR VANAGONS

Marshall Ruskin
84 Westy
-----Original Message-----
From: David Hicks <D1ARCHER@AOL.COM>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Sunday, February 21, 1999 11:52 PM
Subject: computer Bios or UDMA driver prob. No vanagaon content...

>Hello listers,
>
>I'm sending this query out to the list because I thought it might be faster
>than waiting on hold forever, again, with a tech help line...only to reach
>someone who doesn't know how to fix my computer problem.
>So, If any one can help, I'd be most grateful.
>Thanks in advance,
>David, 91 Multi
>
>I recently installed a 2nd hard drive to my system. My "system" is a
Gateway
>2000 P5 200, or an IBM compatible with-
>A HITMAN motherboard,
>Pentium 200Mhz with MMX and 512 cache,
>a "Caviar" 2.5 Gig EIDE hard drive,
>64 megs of SDRAM DIMM,
>STB_Virge video card (4 MEG),
>Ensonic sound card,
>Toshiba 12 speed CD-ROM,
>3.5" floppy,
>100MEG Zip,
>and a 2Gig Iomega tape drive backup.
>So, basically I added an IBM 8.4GB Deskstar 16GP ULTRA DMA with 512KB
buffer.
>This I attached to the end connection of the 40 wire ribbon cable that the
>original EIDE hard drive was attached to. To do this I removed the Zip
drive,
>which previously occupied this spot, and moved the Zip to the end of the
cable
>that the CD was attached to. The CD was previously occupying this cable all
by
>its self. The CD cable came off the motherboards secondary EIDE plug. The
>primary EIDE plug now has the two hard drives, the old one with the jumpers
in
>the "MASTER position, the new one set to the "SLAVE" position.
>I checked the positioning of the Zip and the CD, and they were indicated as
>the CD being the Master and the Zip being the slave. I checked this in the
>setup menu, not by actually looking at the jumpers, but this would
correspond
>with the CD being alone on the secondary cable previously and therefore
being
>a master, and the Zip being previously on the cable with the original hard
>drive and therefore being the slave.
>
>So, I started my computer, windows loaded and at one point gave a message
that
>it was "building a driver." However, and this is where my lack of "computer
>Savvy" shows, (at least), I was unable to locate the drive from my desktop.
So
>I thought maybe shutting down and restarting Windows would bring it up.
This I
>did- only as Windows reloaded, right before finishing loading, an error
>message appeared.  "an exception has occurred @ 0028:C002AE6C in VxD VFAT
>(01)+
>This was culled from 0028:C523105C in VxD voltrack (04)+
>The message went on to say this may be a recoverable fault, press any key
to
>continue, press control +alt+ delete to restart the computer. Of course,
>neither of these things occurred when either of these things was tried. Any
>key was pressed and the screen went blank except for the hourglass wait
symbol
>which never went away. Pressing control +alt+ delete in response to the
>problem produced no discernible effect at all. Well, maybe the screen
flashed
>or something, but the message didn't go away and the computer did not turn
off
>or restart.
>Turning the computer off and then on again via the on/off button produced
the
>same result. Windows loaded nearly completely, the same message occurred
and
>...
>
>So, I called up Gateways technical support and after waiting forever to
talk
>someone, finally got a guy who obviously didn't know how to fix the
problem.
>Unfortunately it took me two hours to figure that out. The two hours were
>spent entering Windows through the "safe" mode, trying to "fix" something
to
>do with the video driver, I think, at least he had me adjusting the
settings
>on my video display, and then trying to reload the video driver,
>unsuccessfully, all of which did nothing to remedy the problem. Finally,
the
>guy admitted he didn't know what else to do for me, then asked if I'd hold
on
>for another couple of minutes. I'd already spent many minutes holding on
>during the two hours on line while he apparently consulted with someone
else
>about the problem, or went for pizza. So, this time I hung up while he had
me
>on hold. I then restarted the computer through the safe mode, tried to
return
>the settings for the video drivers to the way I thought they were before he
>had me change them, as much as I was able anyway, and-shazamm! I was able
to
>restart the computer normally. Almost. One of the differences now is in
>shutting down Windows. When you shut down Windows it now takes 40 seconds
for
>the "Please Wait while Windows shut down your computer" screen to go away.
It
>then takes another 40 seconds for the monitor and power supply to shut
down.
>This is a big change from before. But, at least it was loading without
"that"
>message.
>So, I finally got a hold of someone else at Gateway who gave me directions
on
>partitioning and formatting my drive, and in fact I was successful at doing
>that, and accessing the drive...
>However, I've noticed some other problems with the computer now. The button
>for opening the CD drawer doesn't always work. I sometimes have to open a
>program called Voyetra that displays on screen controls for the CD player
in
>order to get the drawer to open, Interestingly, just bringing up the
program,
>after I've pushed the mechanical button to open the drawer, will cause the
>drawer to open. Other times just pressing the mechanical button will work.
>Also, If I try running a Multimedia CD, the system will crash and a notice
>informing me that "a fatal exception OE has occurred @ 0137:BFF9A3CO"
>Playing music CD's produces no problem.
>
>So, a couple of questions maybe you could answer.
>How do I determine where the problem lies?
>Do I need an upgraded driver for the UDMA drive?
>Where would I get one?
>Do I need and upgraded BIOS?
>Where would I get one?
>
>Follow up question...
>Once I fix my current problem, I'd like to switch my drives, slave and
master-
>wise. I'm planning on copying all the files from the old one onto the new
one
>and having the new one be the drive that the system boots from. This may be
>something I can figure out how to do for myself, but if I could get
specific
>directions I'd feel more comfortable about doing it.
>
>Many, many thanks and if it's easier to call me and you have the time to do
>that, my ph# is 925-930-9828
>
>Thanks again,
>David Hicks
>D1Archer@aol.com
>